Tisbury’s select board chair Christina Colarusso is being charged with several offenses from an incident last month in which she illegally entered a Steamship Authority vessel. After a subsequent encounter with Tisbury Police that turned physical in Vineyard Haven, she was taken to the hospital for what the officer cited as mental health issues.
Colarusso, 35, was issued a criminal summons earlier this month for breaking and entering the Steamship Authority’s freight vessel Aquinnah in the early morning of Nov. 25. According to court records, she was issued an arrest warrant for additional charges of indecent assault and battery, assault and battery on a police officer, and disorderly conduct, all of which were filed after a Tisbury Police officer found Colarusso on Main Street in Vineyard Haven and attempted to serve her a trespassing notice for illegally entering the Steamship Authority vessel.
According to Edgartown District Court records, the Steamship Authority provided a surveillance video to Tisbury Police that shows Colarusso stepping over a nylon fence at the boat ramp and entering the freight deck of the Aquinnah. According to the report, the video shows Colarusso exploring various areas of the vessel, including the passenger seating area, watching a television screen on the vessel, and attempting to access a fire suppression cabinet. Colarusso was seen making finger-gun gestures to a camera aboard the vessel before exiting the property the same way she entered.
Later that day, according to a Tisbury Police report, a Tisbury officer spotted Colarusso walking on Main Street in Vineyard Haven. The report states that the officer attempted to serve her a trespass notice from the earlier incident at the Steamship vessel, but noticed Colarusso was experiencing a mental health episode.
The Tisbury police report says Colarusso slapped the officer on the buttocks, resulting in her receiving the additional charges of assault and battery and disorderly conduct.
Colarusso complied with the officer’s request to handcuff her and put her in the police cruiser to be transported to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, where the officer submitted a Section 12 form for Colarusso. In Massachusetts, a Section 12 is served when an individual is involuntarily committed over mental health reasons.
“The decision to section Ms. Colarusso was based off of her erratic behavior she had displayed to me indicating an inability to properly care for herself,” said the Tisbury Police report.
The report mentions that Colarusso has a documented history of mental illness.
Colarusso left the hospital against orders, leaving in a gray truck toward Oak Bluffs before being returned to the hospital later, according to the police report.
Colarusso has been a seasonal resident on Martha’s Vineyard since 2000. She moved to the Island full-time in 2012, after earning her bachelor’s degree of science in marine engineering from Massachusetts Maritime Academy and spending five years at sea, working on vessels for Military Sealift Command and Transocean Deepwater Inc. as a third assistant engineer. Colarusso was also previously the facilities manager and the water and wastewater operator at Martha’s Vineyard Airport. Colarusso’s LinkedIn says that she is employed as a facilities manager for Avangrid, an owner of the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind project.
Colarusso won her Tisbury Select Board seat in 2023, beating out Abbe Burt and Macaleer Schilcher, but has not attended a select board meeting since September.
Joe LaCivita, Tisbury town administrator, was not immediately available for comment.
Sounds like our community supports are trying to help. Sadly Ms. Colarusso isn’t able to accept that help.
Why did the Times choose to detail the mental health crisis of a struggling member of our community? There has been so much written in our community about the difficulty with mental health issues and getting the services needed. The Police appear to have acted with compassion. Christina deserves all the love and compassion this community can give. She also deserves her privacy.
When an accomplished and known figure exhibits signs of illness, what the police did here was exactly right. There is no reason to hide from the public any (probable) illness’s devastating symptoms and the unfortunate consequences of them. We don’t look at a person having a heart attack in public and say, “How sad he didn’t help himself by eating a healthier diet”.
When reading about a mental health crisis, it is important not to blame the person, but the illness. People don’t ask to be ill, and often don’t know they are sick and in need of help.
I appreciate the care and understanding in the reporting and by the police in how this women is being helped until she is well enough to help herself more. I wish her a full recovery. Be glad it’s the Vineyard. In some places, people, especially POC, are shot by police when in the throes of mental health episodes.
Well said, Lynne